In a new report from the Higher Education Policy Institute being launched at a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference, three university leaders in England set out their views on what the party political manifestos should say at the next general election.
Election 2024: Three Vice-Chancellors’ Manifestos (HEPI Report 164) reveals the thinking of Professor Sir Chris Husbands of Sheffield Hallam University, Professor Sasha Roseneil of the University of Sussex and Professor Adam Tickell of the University of Birmingham.
The essays all emphasise the centrality of higher education to the UK’s future success and cover a broad range of themes, including research, local partnerships and a long-term skills strategy.
There are some areas of consensus among the authors, including on the need to tackle the cost-of-living crisis among students and the growing shortage of student accommodation as well as on the need for a single Whitehall department in place of the two that currently oversee higher education. However, the three authors differ in the priority they give to asking for more public funding.
